Pull down the garish neon and spruce up the rest of Britain's depressing High Streets

How disheartening that it has taken the once-in-a-lifetime Olympics to prompt a makeover for Leyton High Street- the gateway to the games.

Now that the local Council has been busy smartening the place up it is easy to see what has always been there: charming facades of delightful proportions and the potential to look just like the most well-cared for upmarket streets in the best parts of town.

Shopowners report an increase in trade and even an evening passeggiata as locals come out to admire the colourful facades and goods on display behind the newly discreet security arrangements - and plan purchases for the next day.

Tatty: This is what the shopfronts looked like before the makeover which was brought on by the upcoming Olympics

But if it's that easy, why didn't the powers that be tumble to the recipe long ago? All over the country high streets have become depressingly similar at ground level with garish neon facades outdoing each other in tawdriness and grime.

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No wonder potential shoppers don't enjoy visiting what is on their doorstep and hotfoot it to the nearest out of town shopping centre. At first glance you can't tell whether you are in Liverpool or Leatherhead in many of the country's high streets, so nothing to inspire local loyalty there.

But look up and, as has been proved in
Leyton now, the upper storeys so often provide examples of unique
architecture which once made every locality and every shop different -
and every local fiercely protective of their patch. Just hose down the
facades, give them a coat of paint, make the shops inviting and you have
a recipe for success.

Passers-by admire the shopfronts of Leyton High Road after the makeover which will be completed within the next few weeks

In the case of Leyton High Road I particularly like the greengrocer who has laid all his goods on display on the pavement in a way that used to be the norm before the supermarket took hold.

The only depressing concession to modernity is the ubiquitous betting chain that does not seem to have succumbed to a sympathetic local makeover but is relying on its familiar plastic logo. Apart from that the street is reborn.

If you think other parts of the country are in less need of a similar approach think again.

As Councillor for the West End of London - which will also be visited by millions of Olympic tourists - I have long tried to find a way of sprucing up streets in need and not always directing money to the most obvious central thoroughfares.

For the most part this has fallen on deaf ears.

While Leicester Square has had two recent multi-million pound makeovers, Soho, the favoured destination of the young, is still disgracefully tatty in parts.

This is a great shame. It has been trialled and proved in America, that if you clean up the streets, people treat them better.

So no litter and no urinating. It seems obvious put like that but the connection is not always made.

Across the Atlantic they have gone further and proved that if you crack down on seemingly petty offences like jaywalking, major crime mysteriously disappears too. In other words, look after your neighbourhood and it will look after you.

It isn't as if we don't have the resources permanently at hand to spruce down at heel places up.

In the case of Leyton High Road the local Council has been subsidised by the Government's Working Neighourhoods Fund.

But even if the funds dry up once the Olympics are over, everyone can still draw on pools of local talent which are currently going untapped.

What about all those strapping teenagers hanging around on streetcorners just looking for something to do?

Some of them are a dab hand at graffiti and therefore no strangers to a pot of paint.

What a wonderful thing it would be if a tin of burnt orange, bright yellow or tasteful muted green could be put in their hands.

They could smarten their high streets up for everyone, take a step back, admire their handiwork and feel a justifiable surge of pride at what they've got.